The Mughal Empire (Persian: شاهان مغولShāhān-e Moġul; Urdu: مغلیہ سلطنت; self-designation: گوركانى - Gūrkānī),[1][2] or Mogul Empire in former English usage, was an Indian-Islamic power that ruled a large portion of the Indian subcontinent which began in 1526, invaded and ruled most of South Asia by the late 17th and early 18th centuries by forming alliance with Indian Maharaja, and ended in the mid-19th century.[3]

The Mughal Emperors were descendants of the Timurids, and at the height of their power around 1700, they controlled most of the Indian Subcontinent — extending from Bengal in the east to Balochistan in the west, Kashmir in the north to the Kaveri basin in the south.[4] Its population at that time has been estimated as between 110 and 130 million, over a territory of over 4 million km2 (1.5 million square miles).[5]

The "classic period" of the Empire started in 1556 with the accession of Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar, better known as Akbar the Great. It ended with the death of Emperor Aurangzeb in 1707,[6][7] although the Empire continued for another 150 years. During this period, the Empire was marked by a highly centralized administration connecting the different regions. All the significant monuments of the Mughals, their most visible legacy, date to this period which was characterised by the expansion of Persian cultural influence in the Indian subcontinent, with brilliant literary, artistic and architectural results.

Early history

Babur learnt about the riches of 'Hindustan' and conquest of it by his ancestor, Timur Lang in 1503 at Dikh-Kat a place in Tansoxiana region. At that time, he was roaming as a wanderer after losing his principality Farghana. In his memoirs he wrote that after he had acquired Kabul, (in 1514), he desired to regain the territories in Hindustan held once by Turks. He started his exploratory raids from September 1519 when he visited the Indo-Afghan borders to suppress the rising by Yusufzai tribes. He undertook similar raids up to 1524 and had established his base camp at Peshawar.

Babur's son Humayun succeeded him in 1530, but suffered reversals at the hands of the PashtunSher Shah Suri and lost most of the fledgling empire before it could grow beyond a minor regional state. From 1540 Humayun became ruler in exile, reaching the court of the Safavid rule in 1554 while his force still controlled some fortresses and small regions. But when the Pashtuns fell into disarray with the death of Sher Shah Suri, Humayun returned with a mixed army, raised more troops and managed to reconquer Delhi in 1555.

Humayun crossed the rough terrain of the Makran with his wife. The resurgent Humayun then conquered the central plateau around Delhi, but months later died in an accident, leaving the realm unsettled and in war.

Akbar succeeded his father on 14 February 1556, while in the midst of a war against Sikandar Shah Suri for the throne of Delhi. He soon won his eighteenth victory at age 21 or 22. He became known as Akbar, as he was a wise ruler, set fair but high taxes. He was born in a Hindu Rajput household. He was a more inclusive in his approach to the non-Muslim subjects of the Empire. He investigated the production in a certain area and taxed inhabitants one-fifth of their agricultural produce. He also set up an efficient bureaucracy and was tolerant of religious differences which softened the resistance by the locals. He made alliances with Rajputs and appointed Hindu generals and administrators. Later in life, he devised his own brand of religion based on tolerance, and inspired by viewpoints of Hinduism and Islam. After his death, this religion did not become popular, but is still remembered for its noble intentions of bringing people and minds together.

Jahangir, son of Emperor Akbar, ruled the empire from 1605–1627. In October 1627, Shah Jahan, son of Emperor Jahangir succeeded to the throne, where he inherited a vast and rich empire. At mid-century this was perhaps the greatest empire in the world. Shah Jahan commissioned the famous Taj MahalAgra which was built by the Persian architect Ustad Ahmad Lahauri as a tomb for Shah Jahan's wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child. By 1700 the empire reached its peak under the leadership of Aurangzeb Alamgir with major parts of present day India, Pakistan and most of Afghanistan under its domain. Aurangzeb was the last of what are now referred to as the Great Mughal kings, living a shrewd life but dying peacefully. (1630–1653) in

The Mughal Empire was the dominant power in the Indian subcontinent between the mid-16th century and the early 18th century. Founded in 1526, it officially survived until 1858, when it was supplanted by the British Raj. The dynasty is sometimes referred to as the Timurid dynasty as Babur was descended from Timur.

The Mughal dynasty was founded when Babur, hailing from Ferghana (Modern Uzbekistan), invaded parts of northern India and defeated Ibrahim Shah Lodhi, the ruler of Delhi, at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526. The Mughal Empire superseded the Delhi Sultanate as rulers of northern India. In time, the state thus founded by Babur far exceeded the bounds of the Delhi Sultanate, eventually encompassing a major portion of India and earning the appellation of Empire. A brief interregnum (1540–1555) during the reign of Babur's son, Humayun, saw the rise of the Afghan Suri Dynasty under Sher Shah Suri, a competent and efficient ruler in his own right and Hindu king Hem Chandra Vikramaditya, also called Hemu. However, Sher Shah's untimely death and the military incompetence of his successors enabled Humayun to regain his throne in 1555. However, Humayun died a few months later, and was succeeded by his son, the 13-year-old Akbar the Great.

The greatest portions of Mughal expansion was accomplished during the reign of Akbar (1556–1605). The empire was maintained as the dominant force of the present-day Indian subcontinent for a hundred years further by his successors Jahangir, Shah Jahan, and Aurangzeb. The first six emperors, who enjoyed power both ‘’de jure’’ and ‘’de facto’’, are usually referred to by just one name, a title adopted upon his accession by each Emperor. The relevant title is bolded in the list below.

Akbar the Great initiated certain important policies, such as religious liberalism (abolition of the jizya tax), inclusion of Hindus in the affairs of the empire, and political alliance/marriage with the Hindu Rajput caste, that were innovative for his milieu; he also adopted some policies of Sher Shah Suri, such as the division of the empire into sarkar Rajs, in his administration of the empire. These policies, which undoubtedly served to maintain the power and stability of the empire, as the Hindu populace had shown resistance to the Islamic conquest in its years in the Indian subcontinent. These were preserved by his two immediate successors but were discarded by Aurangzeb, who followed a more strict interpretation of Islam and followed a stricter policy of intolerance to the practice of religions than his own. Furthermore, Aurangzeb spent nearly his entire career seeking to expand his realm into the Deccan and south India, Assam in the east; this venture sapped the resources of the empire while provoking strong resistance from the Marathas, Rajputs, Sikhs of Punjab, Ahoms of Assam. Ahoms in Assam successfully resisted the Mughal invasions, the last battle being the Battle of Saraighat. It is interesting to note in this regard that while the Mughals ruled India for a nearly three hundred years they never ruled the complete geographical extent of the Indian subcontinent. The power was mostly centered around Delhi which was for historical reasons considered a strategic stronghold but there always existed strong independent Hindu kingdoms which maintained their sovereignty and offered stiff resistance to Mughal expansion.

Decline

After the emperor Aurangzeb's death in 1707, the empire fell into decline. Beginning with Bahadur Shah I, the Mughal Emperors progressively declined in power and became figureheads, being initially controlled by sundry courtiers and later by various rising warlords. In the 18th century, the Empire suffered the depredations of invaders like Nadir Shah of Persia and Ahmed Shah Abdali of Afghanistan, who repeatedly sacked Delhi, the Mughal capital. The greater portion of the empire's territories in India passed to the Marathas, who sacked Delhi, reducing the once powerful and mighty empire to just lone city before falling to the British. Other adversaries included Sikh Empire and HyderabadNizams. In 1804, the blind and powerless Shah Alam II formally accepted the protection of the British East India Company. The British had already begun to refer to the weakened Emperor as "King of Delhi," rather than "Emperor of India." The once glorious and mighty Mughal army was disbanded in 1805 by the British; only the guards of the Red Fort were spared to serve with the King Of Delhi, which avoided the uncomfortable implication that British sovereignty was outranked by the Indian monarch. Nonetheless, for a few decades afterward, the BEICSepoy Rebellion declared their allegiance to Shah Alam's descendant, Bahadur Shah Zafar (mostly symbolically, as he was just a figurehead for the purpose of rebellion), the British decided to abolish the institution altogether. They deposed the last Mughal Emperor in 1857 and exiled him to Burma, where he died in 1862. Thus the Mughal dynasty came to an end, which formed a momentous chapter in the history of India. continued to rule the areas under its control as the nominal servants of the emperor, and in his name. In 1857, even these courtesies were disposed. After some rebels in the

There are still many Mughals living in the Indian Subcontinent. The term Mughal in the current socio-political context also does not have decisive meaning as the blood lines of the original Mughals are now mixed with the local population and have South-Asian identities which are stronger than any original Turkic or Mongoloid origins[citation needed].

Reign interrupted by Suri Dynasty. Youth and inexperience at ascension ledto his being regarded as a less effectiveruler than usurper, Sher Shah Suri.BIRTH Mar 6, 1508REIGN PERIOD 1530–1540DEATH Jan 1556

__________________________Sher Shah Suri

Deposed Humayun and led the Suri Dynasty.BIRTH 1472REIGN PERIOD 1540–1545DEATH May 1545

___________________________Islam Shah Suri 2nd and last ruler of the Suri Dynasty,claims of sons Sikandar and Adil Shah wereeliminated by Humayun's restoration.BIRTH c.1500REIGN PERIOD 1545–1554DEATH 1554

Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar Akbar greatly expanded the Empire and is regardedas the most illustrious ruler of the Mughal Dynastyas he set up the empire's various institutions;One of his most famous constructionmarvels was the Lahore Fort.BIRTH Nov 14, 1542REIGN PERIOD 1556–1605DEATH Oct 27, 1605

_____________________________Nooruddin Muhammad Jahangir

Jahangir set the precedent for sons rebellingagainst their Emperor fathers. Opened firstrelations with the British East India Company.Reportedly was an alcoholic and his wife EmpressNoor Jahan became the real power behindthe throne and competently ruled in his place.BIRTH Oct 1569REIGN PERIOD 1605–1627DEATH 1627

More conservative in behavior and far lessextravagant as the previous emperors; brought backIslamic law, and the jizya tax. He is well-known forhis personal piety and for leading an extremely simpleand pious life. His conquests expanded the empire toits greatest extent, incorporating much of southern India.A major and last desperate attempt was also madeto conquer Assam during his rule but with no successat Battle of Saraighat; the over-stretched empire wouldface challenges after his death. He wrote the Qur'anin his own Handwriting twice.BIRTH Oct 21, 1618REIGN PERIOD 1658–1707DEATH Mar 3, 1707

_________________________

Bahadur Shah I

First of the Mughal emperors to preside over a steadyand severe decline in the territories under the empire'scontrol and military power. After his reign, the emperorbecame a progressively insignificant figurehead.BIRTH Oct 14, 1643REIGN PERIOD 1707–1712DEATH Feb 1712

_____________________________Jahandar Shah

He was merely a puppet in the hands of hisChief Minister Zulfikar Khan. The acts of JahandarShah brought down the prestige of the Mughal Empire.BIRTH 1664REIGN PERIOD 1712–1713DEATH Feb 1713

____________________________Furrukhsiyar

In 1717 he granted a firman to the EnglishEast India Company granting them duty free tradingrights for Bengal, and confirmed their position in India.BIRTH 1683REIGN PERIOD 1713–1719DEATH 1719

Suffered the invasion of Nadir-Shah of Persia in 1739.BIRTH 1702REIGN PERIOD 1719–1720, 1720–1748DEATH 1748

_______________________________________________

Ahmad Shah Bahadur BIRTH 1725REIGN PERIOD 1748-54DEATH 1754

___________________________Alamgir II

BIRTH 1699REIGN PERIOD 1754–1759DEATH 1759

___________________________

Shah Jahan III BIRTH UnknownREIGN PERIOD In 1759DEATH 1770s

________________________Shah Alam II

Suffered the invasion of Ahmed-Shah-Abdali in 1761;granted the 'Nizami' of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to theBEIC in 1765, formally accepted the protection of theBEIC in 1803.BIRTH 1728REIGN PERIOD 1759–1806DEATH 1806

Deposed by the British and exiledto Burma following the Great Mutiny.BIRTH 1775REIGN PERIOD 1837–1857DEATH 1862------------------------------------------------------------

The Mughal Family

The Mughal Emperors practiced polygamy.[2] Besides their principal wives, they also had a number of illegitimate wives in their harem. This makes it difficult to identify all the offspring of each emperor. The principal offspring of each emperor and their relationships are provided in the chart below.

Although the land the Mughals once ruled has separated into what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan their influence can still be seen widely today. Tombs of the emperors are spread throughout India, Afghanistan[15] and Pakistan. There are 16 million descendants spread throughout the Subcontinent and possibly the world.[16][17]

Urdu language

Although Persian was the dominant and "official" language of the empire, the language of the elite later evolved into a form of Hindustani today known as Urdu. Highly Persianized and also influenced by Arabic and Turkic, the language was written in a type of Perso-Arabic script known as Nastaliq, and with literary conventions and specialized vocabulary being retained from Persian, Arabic and Turkic; the new dialect was eventually given its own name of Urdu. Compared with Hindi, the Urdu language draws more vocabulary from Persian and Arabic (via Persian) and (to a much lesser degree) from Turkic languages where Hindi draws vocabulary from Sanskrit more heavily.[18] Modern Hindi, which uses Sanskrit-based vocabulary along with Urdu loan words from Persian and Arabic, is mutually intelligible with Urdu.[19]

The Indian economy remained as prosperous under the Mughals as it was, because of the creation of a road system and a uniform currency, together with the unification of the country. Manufactured goods and peasant-grown cash cropsSurat. Debal in Sindh was mostly autonomous. The Mughals also maintained various river fleets of Dhows, which transported soldiers over rivers and fought pirates. Among its admirals were Munnawar Khan and Muhammad Saleh Kamboh. The Mughals also protected the Siddis of Janjira. Its sailors were renowned and often voyaged to China and the East African Swahili Coast, together with some Mughal subjects carrying out private-sector trade. Cities and towns boomed under the Mughals; however, for the most part, they were military and political centers, not manufacturing or commerce centers. Only those guilds which produced goods for the bureaucracy made goods in the towns; most industry was based in rural areas. The Mughals also built Maktabs in every province under their authority, where youth were taught the Quran and Islamic law (such as: Fatwa-e-Alamgiri) in their indigenous languages, which later became very powerful religious institutions in South Asia. were sold throughout the world. Key industries included shipbuilding (the Indian shipbuilding industry was as advanced as the European, and Indians sold ships to European firms), textiles, and steel. The Mughals maintained a small fleet, which merely carried pilgrims to Mecca, imported a few Arab horses in

The nobility was a heterogeneous body; while it primarily consisted of Rajput aristocrats and foreigners from Muslim countries, people of all castes and nationalities could gain a title from the emperor. The middle class of openly affluent traders consisted of a few wealthy merchants living in the coastal towns; the bulk of the merchants pretended to be poor to avoid taxation. The bulk of the people were poor. The standard of living of the poor was as low as, or somewhat higher than, the standard of living of the Indian poor under the British Raj; whatever benefits the British brought with canals and modern industry were neutralized by rising population growth, high taxes, and the collapse of traditional industry in the nineteenth century.

Science and technology

Astronomy

The 16th and 17th centuries saw a synthesis between Islamic astronomy and Indian astronomy, where Islamic observational techniques and instruments were combined with Hindu computational techniques. While there appears to have been little concern for theoretical astronomy, Muslim and Hindu astronomers in India continued to make advances in observational astronomy and produced nearly a hundred Zij treatises. Humayun built a personal observatory near Delhi, while Jahangir and Shah Jahan were also intending to build observatories but were unable to do so. The instruments and observational techniques used at the Mughal observatories were mainly derived from the Islamic tradition, and the computational techniques from the Hindu tradition.[20][21] In particular, one of the most remarkable astronomical instruments invented in Mughal India is the seamless celestial globe (see Technology below).

Technology

Considered one of the most remarkable feats in metallurgy, the seamlessglobeKashmir by Ali Kashmiri ibn Luqman in 998 AH (1589-90 CE), and twenty other such globes were later produced in Lahore and Kashmir during the Mughal Empire. Before they were rediscovered in the 1980s, it was believed by modern metallurgists to be technically impossible to produce metal globes without any seams, even with modern technology. Another famous series of seamless celestial globes was produced using a lost-wax casting method in the Mughal Empire in 1070 AH (1659-1960 CE) by Muhammad Salih Tahtawi (from Thatta, Sind) with Arabic and Persian inscriptions. It is considered a major feat in metallurgy. These Mughal metallurgists pioneered the method of waxcasting[23] was invented in while producing these seamless globes.

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